Teaching “and” and “but”

Learning new vocabulary words in elementary school is important for reading comprehension. But vocabulary instruction needs to include a deeper understanding of words students use all the time, words they haven’t paid much attention to, such as the conjunctions “and” and “but.”

Children know what “and” and “but” mean. But do they realize they use “and” to connect two words or ideas which are both positive or both negative? And do they realize they use “but” to join one word or idea they favor and another word or idea they don’t favor?

Helping students learn to read means pointing out the relationships which conjunctions create. Here’s how.

Start with the word “and.” Write a sentence such as “I like ice cream and cookies.” Point out to the student that you used “and” to join two ideas you feel the same way about. Ask her if there are any other ways she could say “I like ice cream and cookies” without using “and.” If she is stumped, suggest, “I like ice cream. Additionally, I like cookies.” Or, “I like ice cream as well as cookies.” Or, “I like ice cream. Also, I like cookies.” Point out that “and,” “additionally,” “as well as” and “also” all are used to connect ideas which we feel the same way about, either positively or negatively.

Other words which mean the same as “and” include consequently, because, moreover, and furthermore. A semicolon between two sentences usually indicates that the idea in the first sentence continues in the second sentence.

Now write a sentence such as “I like ice cream but not anchovies.” Ask her if there is any other way to say that idea. She might say, “I like ice cream. However, I don’t like anchovies.” Or, “I like ice cream although I don’t like anchovies.” Or, “I like ice cream even though I don’t like anchovies.” Point out that “but,” “however,” “although” and “even though” all are used to connect ideas we don’t feel the same way about. One idea we like and one idea we don’t like. One idea usually uses a form of “not” or a prefix that means “not” such as un, im, ir, or dis.

Words which mean the same as “but” show contrast. Some other words are though, despite and yet.

To reinforce the difference between “and” and “but” and their synonyms, suggest two ideas, such as summer and winter. Ask the student to say or write a sentence saying how they feel about those two times of year. Now ask the student to change the word or words they used to connect summer and winter to a word or phrase which means the same thing. Now do it again to another phrase or word which means the same thing. Try another relationship, such as snakes and dogs. Again, ask for synonyms for the connecting words.

Being aware how “and” and “but” and their synonyms create different relationships between ideas is important in reading. If a child is reading and comes to the word “however,” she knows the thought has just changed to an opposite kind of thought. If she comes to the word “moreover,” she knows more of the same kind of thought is coming.

Another way of teaching these ideas is to suggest that “and” is something like a plus sign, but “but” is something like a subtraction sign. Or “and” is something like walking straight ahead while “but” is something like taking a U-turn.